Found a Zelda fanfic that's left me going
-Link (hero) is in love with Zelda (princess). Ilia, Link's childhood friend, is very jealous, so she calls in her cousin (original character) to woo Zelda. Her cousin's a prince. Ilia's a farmer. Wtf.
-Link and Zelda get together. Prince gets angry, turns evil, and kidnaps the Queen. Zelda's asleep when Link finds out, and he decides to just let her continue sleeping.
---Pretty sure we never see Link actually telling Zelda her mom's been kidnapped. In fact, I think Zelda herself has only referenced it one time, and she's really not at all shook up about it. Heck, no one is.
-The heroes start finding pieces of a prophecy. Part of it says that an old friend will turn evil, and Zelda immediately knows it's referring to the prince. She somehow forgets this later and is shocked when she finds out he's evil.
---Link apparently figured it out on his own, and decided not to tell her until they were confronting the guy.
------Link actually figures out pretty much everything in this story. Please note that Zelda has a relic called the Triforce of Wisdom, meaning that the gods of that world really freaking respect her wisdom. Zelda's in awe of Link's intelligence, and thinks to herself about how he should be carrying the relic.
---Just before the confrontation, the author stopped everything with a "Sorry to interrupt this tense scene, but this is the part where everything comes together!" It was in bold text and everything.
-Evil prince shows his power by turning Zelda and Midna (another friend) temporarily evil. They break free of that control (or are released, I can't remember), with no memory of that happening. The prince tells them what he did, but Zelda doesn't believe him and says, "Prove it." He turns Link evil.
---Zelda officially went full retard.
---Link broke free of the prince's control through the Power of Love.
-They leave the evil prince both alive and free for no reason whatsoever. They just walk off with his prisoner, Ganon (the series's villain). The prince blocks the door by standing in front of it, so the heroes just teleport out.
-Ganon reveals that he was evil because he never had any real friends. Link and Zelda give him a hug. They're all best friends.
---Link was told to put aside his differences with Ganon. I don't think that can really apply when you're dealing with a man who helped throw most of the kingdom into a nightmare realm.
---Nobody freaking hugs Ganon and lives, dang it.
-Zelda's captured by the evil prince. The prince is sitting there, laughing, when suddenly there's an explosion from the roof, and Link appears through a hole in the ceiling.
"That roof was bomb proof!" the prince cries.
"That wasn't a bomb," retorts Link. "That was fire."
A daring rescue ensues. The prince is once again left to do his thing.
You know, I'd like to see a Zelda fanfic where Zelda actually enjoys being royalty (and isn't a spoiled brat that's obsessed with her image and tells the little people to eat cake).